The Cambridge Analytica scandal did not affect Facebook’s revenue in Q1

American Facebook Inc., which owns the world's largest social network, recorded record profits in the first quarter of 2018 and increased revenue by 49%.

theglobalpanorama via flickr

American Facebook Inc., which owns the world's largest social network, recorded record profits in the first quarter of 2018 and increased revenue by 49%.

Such a strong growth in indicators was not prevented by a scandal associated with the recent user data leak and use of the information for advertising purposes.

Facebook reported in a press release that net profit in January-March soared 63% to $ 4.99 billion, or $ 1.69 per share, compared to $ 3.06 billion, or $ 1.04 per share, for a similar the period of the last year.

The social network’s revenues from advertising in the past quarter increased by 50% to $ 11.8 billion, according to a press release. About 91% of the revenue from advertising in the I quarter of the company came from mobile devices, compared with 85% a year earlier.

Facebook investments more than doubled in the first quarter and amounted to $ 2.81 billion. The number of employees increased by 48% to 27.7 thousand people.

The number of daily active users of social networks in March was 1.45 billion people, an increase of 13% in annual terms. The average number of active users per month increased by 13% year-on-year to 2.2 billion users.

In April, the company's management approved buyback of shares worth $ 9 billion in addition to the original program of $ 6 billion.

"Despite serious problems, our community and business started 2018 with strong indicators. We are more broadly looking at our responsibility, and are investing in making sure that our services are used for good. In 2018, our priorities will be user safety and justification of their expectations," says the founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg in the press release.

In March, a scandal broke out around Facebook. Then, it it became known that Cambridge Analytica company was collecting user data through its social network application. It is assumed that these data could be used during the election campaign in the United States in 2016 and the referendum on the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (Brexit). Cambridge Analytica could receive data from a total of 87 million social network users.

Facebook shares have fallen in price by 10% since the beginning of 2018, the company's current capitalization is $ 463 billion.